Year: 2015

The Spotlight On Today’s Sports- 11/23/2015

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Hello everyone and happy Monday! I’ve gotten a good amount of feedback from folks who have mentioned that they enjoyed the old Spotlight on Daily Sports Posts that I used t do when I first started the site so.  Well, I like to consider myself a man of the people and so your wish is my command!  I can’t promise the sports update will be every single day but let’s say most days for now and we’ll see where we go from there.  Today’s update is going to focus entirely on Week 11 in the NFL and what we learned from the week.  Let’s get right into it…

The New York Jets…Not a Playoff Team-  I’ve showed a lot of faith in the Jets throughout the season and I have predicted that they were going to be one of the teams representing the weak AFC as a wildcard and while I can’t tell you which one of these mediocre tems in the AFC will make the playoffs, I can tell you it won’t be the Jets. If the Jets are going to make the playoffs they need to get to 9-7 which mean they have to go 4-2 over the final six games and I just don’t see it.  This week’s brutal loss to the Texans was a real setback for the Jets because now they don’t get to face a FREAKIN WIDE RECEIVER AT QUARTERBACK anymore but instead get Tony Romo, Eli Manning and Tom Brady, the rest of the way..  Do you see this Jets defense stopping any of those three?  I don’t either but let’s say you’re optimistic and say they can beat Eli, fine then do you see the Jets going into Buffalo week 17 and beating the Bills because that’s the other option.  As much as it pains me to say it, I’d be much more willing to believe that the Jets will finish 7-9 then 9-7.

Fraud, Fraud, Fraud-  The only good news as a Jets fan is that at least my team didn’t have the biggest collapse since the beginning of a promising 4-1 season.  No way, that distinct honor goes to the Atlanta Falcons.  The Falcons have suddenly gone from 5-0 to 6-4 and they’ve done so in the ugliest of ways.  It’s bad enough that you let Blaine Gabbert come into your building and beat you before your bye but now yesterday the Falcons allow 106 year old Matt Hasslebeck to beat them in their building as well.  To make matters worse, the Falcons were up  by two touchdowns and let the piss poor Colts defense hold them to a scoreless second half at the Georgia Dome! I really hope someone rises to the occasion and knocks the Falcons out of the playoffs because they are as fraudulent a winning team as can be.  Too much talent to keep losing games the way they are.

The worst thing that could’ve happened to Peyton Manning-  is that the Broncos went into Chicago with Brock Osweiler and left the windy city with a victory.  The league was already ready to bury Peyton Manning and label him as washed up.  Everyone has seemingly forgotten about how good of a career Peyton has had and instead all you keeep hearing was that he was done, that the Broncos playmakers and defense have been carrying him all season.  Well, the fact that these same Broncos were able to go into Chicago with Brock Osweiler, making his first career start, and beat a Bears team that was playing good football, won’t stop any of that chatter.  Now the question turns to if Peyton is able to return at some point this season, do the Denver Broncos even want him back?  You would think the Broncos were 2-8 as opposed to 8-2.

The Cowboys Are Alive- Truth be told, the New York Giants are still the favorites to win the NFC East but the Cowboys now sit two games back and they have their Quarterback back!  Even though Tony Romo looked a little rusty in Miami, the Cowboys were able to pick up their first win in 8 tries.  Darren McFadden, of all people, rushed for 131 yards and you have to figure that if Matt Cassel was in at QB, he may not have even had 30 yards. Just the threat of having Romo back, opens up the Cowboys running attack because you expect them to pass every down.  Just look at Demarco Murray last season as compared to how he’s looked without Tony Romo.  The further good news for the Cowboys is that the Eagles were crushed by the Bucs at home and look lost with Mark Sanchez under center and the Redskins were embarrassed by the 10-0 Panthers.  The bad news for the Cowboys is that now they welcome those same undefeated Panthers into their building in just four days in a must-see Thanksgiving matchup. Put the turkey on the snack tables because that is a game you won’t want to miss.

A Win’s A Win…But At What Cost?-  This just isn’t the year for the Baltimore Ravens.  Just two weeks after losing Steve Smith for the season, the Ravens lost both Justin Forsett for the season due to a broken arm and Joe Flacco for the season due to a torn ACL.  That pretty much completes the laundry list of injuries to the Ravens this season and ends their disappointing year.  The cherry on top?  Matt Schaub will now be starting for them for the rest of the year.

Sweet Revenge- Just when it looked like the Bengals were going to push their matchup with the Cardinals to overtime, Carson Palmer drove his team right down the field in just a minute and three seconds to put them in position to seal the game with a field goal.  It was an elite level performance by Palmer who sent his team to the number 2 seed in the NFC and sent his former team into a virtual tie with the Denver Broncos.  How sweet it is!

And Then There Were Four?!?!-  I know I know, there are only two undefeated teams left the 10-0 Panthers and 9-0 Patriots but there are actually 4 undefeated (with at least two starts) quarterbacks this season.  Those four quarterbacks are Tom Brady, Cam Newtown, Tony Romo (3-0) and Matt Hasslebeck (3-0). Obviously the shocker of the bunch is Hasslebeck who has really turned back the clock off the bench for the Colts.  Whether he’ll be able to do it for the next 5 weeks, while Andrew Luck is out injured, remains to be seen but he goes to show the importance of having a cagey veteran on the bench.

Well that’s going to do it for today but I’ll be back tomorrow with another sports update where we’ll have no choice but to turn our attention to a team streaking in the NBA and bringing back interest in the NBA altogether at the same time.  Until then, what were your biggest takeaways from Week 11 in the National Football League.  Let me know in the comment section below or on twitter @Daily_Spotlight

The Spotlight On The 2015 WWE Survivor Series

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The 2015 WWE Survivor Series just went off the air not too long ago and I actually just got back from a connection flight from the site of the Survivor Series, Atlanta, Georgia.  Since I’m arriving late and starting the show at 11:15PM,  I’m going to get into the big finish of the show and my thoughts on that before I get into the highlights of the show.   If you haven’t seen the show and don’t want it to be spoiled stop reading now…..

 

OK so obviously tonight Sheamus cashed in his money in the bank briefcase on Roman Reigns following Reigns winning the title from Dean Ambrose in the finals of the WWE World Title Tournament.  In theory I have no problem with this as the person carrying the money in the bank briefcase should cash in after the champion has fought two matches.  Here are my two problems with the cash in.  First, this is way too similar to the cash in from Summerslam 2013 where Daniel Bryan beats John Cena clean, confetti falls as Bryan stands triumphant with Triple H raising his hand.  Of course on that night Triple H turned on Bryan to start the authority as Randy Orton cashed in and won the title right in the middle of the confetti.  Sound familiar?  Well yeah because it’s basically what happened tonight.  Next and it’s my even bigger problem with Sheamus winning the world title, he was made out to be a huge goof in the beginning of this show.  He comes out with the New Day rapping terribly to the point that they want nothing to do with him and to the point that the announcers joke that he should cash in his money in the bank briefcase for a new personality.  Then he loses his traditional survivor series match to Jey Uso, Ryback and Kalisto.  This is not the same as Seth Rollins losing to Randy Orton the  same night he cashed in at Wrestlemania because Orton was a clear number one contender for Rollins after that.  With all due respect to Jey Uso, Ryback and Kalisto I don’t think either of those guys is getting a title shot at TLC, so it just made Sheamus look bad.  Don’t get me wrong, I love badass Irish ass kicker Sheamus and if the idea here is to bring that Sheamus back then great but if not then what is the point?  As for Roman Reigns, I think we’re building to Reigns and Triple H at Wrestlemania and that’ll be great but I really think they oughta just see what they have in the guy instead of just pulling the carpet out from under him ime and time again.  Otherwise, they may pull that carpet out one too many times that people may think he’s a loser.  Reigns should also never cry like he did at the end of the show but instead get angry.  I’m interested to see were it goes from here.

Aside from that finish, which again I thought could have some positives if this brings back the badass Sheamus, I thought there was a lot to like about the Survivor Series so let’s get into it.

Highlights

1) The Golden One Returns- It was a really cool way to start the show with a bonus Traditional Survivor Series match.  It was a good way to get everyone on the show, in particular seeing my boy Bo Dallas getting a spot on the kickoff show.  Of course the big story here was the return of Goldust that came out of nowhere and got a great reaction from the crowd, coupled by the great reaction by Stardust.  This was so good that I wished it had taken place on the main show as it got a great reaction and there weren’t any surprises during the main show traditional survivor series match.  I am still holding out hope that Stardust and Goldust get to have a big blow off match at Wrestlemania as, if tonight was any indication, people would be into it.  Goldust looked great by the way and seemingly gets better with age.  One last note on the kickoff match, it really seems like Titus O’Neil is being featured more prominently as a single.  He got to survive here, got a tournament match, and got an elimination in this match.  I wonder if he will silently be pulled away from the prime time players or if maybe Darren Young is just taking some time off, time will tell.

2) The Tournament Semi-Finals-  Starting with Roman Reigns and Alberto Del Rio, this makes Roman Reigns two for two on great matches this week, first with Cesaro and now tonight with Alberto Del Rio.  He gets the 50/50 reaction but works real hard in the ring and I thought this match was really good.  Roman’s one arm lifting sitout powerbomb was just nasty and I really liked how they teased the spear with Alberto constantly finding a way to get out of it several times.  Alberto has been a great addition to the roster since his return. As for Kevin Owens and Dean Ambrose, such a great hard hitting match and I also enjoy watching Owens talking to the referee and crowd.  It was really nice to see Dean Ambrose get a big win because I honestly can’t recall too many big match clean wins he gets.  Owens was also great in his backstage promo with Reigns and I hope to see those two down the line.

3) 25 Years Of Undertaker- This entire show was built around the Undertaker and WWE did a great job in making everything about him seem like a big deal.  From the video packages throughout the show, it almost felt like this could very well be it for the Undertaker. Of course, it likely isn’t it but I think we are getting down that road.  Perhaps he’s got one more Wrestlemania in him and he goes into the hall of fame this year?  Just speculation…In any event I think JBL summed this entire match up best when he said to take it all in now because it isn’t gonna last forever.  This was pure nostalgia with the highlight for me being the Brothers of Destruction entrance.  Kane setting the Undertaker symbols on fire as The Undertaker slowly made his way to the ring, such a spectacle that had to be incredible to see live.  As for the match, it was like the greatest hits of both the Undertaker and Kane and the fact that I see people on twitter complaining that the Wyatts lost makes no sense.  This was the Undertaker’s 25th Anniversary, there was no way that he was going to lose, nor should he have.  The closing scenes here were both very cool.  Kane giving the Undertaker the ring to acknowledge the crowd was so unique and as close as you’ll ever see to the Undertaker breaking character.  It also definitely seemed like this was the swan song for the Brothers of Destruction as a team with the two slowly walking together and classically turning back to acknowledge the crowd.  One of the Undertaker’s greatest legacies in WWE is actually Kane when you think about it.  Here’s a character, in Kane; who’s been around for over 18 years and it’s spun directly off of the Undertaker.

4) Reigns Vs Ambrose-  To me this match felt really fresh and was nice to see a completely new 1st time ever match in the main event.  The two are obviously good friends and left it all out in the ring.  I liked that, unlike in the Del Rio/Reigns match the crowd wasn’t split with “Let’s Go Roman/Roman Sucks” Chants but rather “Lets Go Roman/Lets Go Ambrose” Chants.  To me that shows that people are paying to see both of these guys as opposed to the first chant where it’s all about Reigns.  That was always the problem with the Cena chants.  The crowd either wanted Cena to win or lose but it didn’t matter who beat him because there was no emotional connection to the guy who beat Cena, just that he did it.  My favorite moment in the match came when both guys sat up and started to first slap and then straight up punch each other.  It showed that both men were putting their friendship behind them and worrying about winning the title.  No problem with the finish here as Ambrose simply got caught with a spear at the very last second so both stayed strong and showed each other the respect at the end.  They obviously want to keep Ambrose and Reigns together for now and I have no problem with it.

Well that’s going to do it for me tonight as it’s nearly 2:30 AM in New york.  I hope you enjoyed all of the Survivor Series material up here on the site over the weekend.  For now, what did you think of the finish of the Survivor Series?  Wat were your favorite moments from the show.  Let me know in the comments section below or on twitter @Daily_Spotlight

The Spotlight NFL Week 11 Picks Against The Spread

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No your eyes are not deceiving you, this really is the first time ever in which we are bringing you the NFL Picks Against The Spread on a Friday and not on Sunday morning like you’ve grown accustomed to.  Last week we went 7-2 on the week going 5-2 on our weekly seven pack of games and then connecting on both Sunday and Monday night.  We lost last week with the Saints, who look like a team that’s ready to blow the whole thing up at this point, and the Cowboys who once against lost a nail biter on the final seconds of the game.  This week we’re back with 7 more games that you’ll hopefully be able to cash out on, let’s get right into it.

Highlights:

1) Kansas City Cheifs (-3) at San Diego Chargers

You know I hate picking against bad teams coming off of a bye but look out AFC, here come the Kansas City Chiefs and they feel really good about themselves.  This is a team that went into Denver last week, turned Peyton Manning over five times and destroyed the Broncos en route to moving to 4-5 which is just about where every team in the AFC Wildcard race is sitting.  I love Phillip Rivers, but the injuries have really caught up to the Chargers this season and losing Keenan Allen was the one injury that was too much to handle.  I like the Chiefs by a field goal in this game.

2) New York Jets (-3) at Houston Texans

That’s right I’m taking another road team by a field goal here and I’m taking my New York Jets.  The only worry I have here is the health of Ryan Fitzpatrick but if he’s cleared to play, and it looks like he will be, the Jets have to find a way to win here.  I know the Texans defense looked out of this world on Monday night, and honestly, they’re in a good position to win their division now but Brian Hoyer is out, which means it’s going to be TJ Yates at quarterback.  I know Yates just won on Monday and has shown flashes but he was the third string quarterback coming into the season and in his career has a less than impressive 4-7 TD-INT ratio.  That doesn’t bode too well for Yates against the NFL’s 4th ranked defense that the Jets have.  The Jets are also coming off of 11 days rest, while the Texans are on a short week.  The Jets bounce back this week and create much needed separation.

3) Chicago Bears (pk) over Denver Broncos

So Peyton Manning is out this week and in comes a relative unknown in Brock Osweiler, and the Bears aren’t even favored at home?  Aside from that it really looks like the Bears are going on a bit of a run here.  I know I mentioned this over the past few weeks but Jay Cutler always gives his team a chance to win and I’m thinking he wins his third in a row this week.  There also may not be a team hotter in the NFL right now than the Bears who walked into St.Louis and destroyed them by 24!  Oh, and did I mention that Bears head coach John Fox was fired by the Broncos last season?  I think it’s safe to say he’ll be a bit motivated.

4) Green Bay Packers (pk) at Minnesota Vikings 

Everyone and their mother is picking the Vikings here and with good reason, the Packers have looked pretty bad over the past three weeks.  That said, I’m going against conventional wisdom and rolling with Aaron Rodgers to have a big bounce back game and get a win when he needs to in order to keep pace in the division.  If losing the Lions at home for the first time since 1991 won’t wake the Packers up then seemingly nothing will.

5) St. Louis Rams (+3) at Baltimore Ravens

Ok so Case Keenum is starting this week for the Rams and his 11-8 career TD-INT ratio isn’t lighting the world on fire, but, does anyone remember what happened with the 49ers 2 weeks ago?  If you don’t, that’s why I’m here.  Two weeks ago, the 49ers benched their struggling franchise quarterback Colin Kaepernick after struggling all season and reports came out that his teammates were petitioning for Kaepernick to be benched.  The 49ers replaced him with Blaine Gabbert, the dreadful former quarterback of the Jacksonville Jaguars, went on to beat the Falcons in Atlanta as his team rallied around him.  Back to this week now and the Rams suddenly find their, once promising, season going down the drain as quarterback Nick Foles ranks dead last in QBR.  Well, now Foles is heading to the bench and again it’s time for the Rams to rally around a backup quarterback.  I think they will.  Also, what have the Ravens done to have any right to be favored by a field goal? This 2-7 team is so done, they lost at home to Jacksonville last week.

6) IF YOU’RE DESPERATE: Detroit Lions (pk) over Oakland Raiders

Not a popular pick here, I know, but I had a hard time finding a 7th game and so I’m going to roll with the Lions here.  Logic would say to pick a Raiders team that, until two weeks ago, was in the drivers seat on the fast track to a playoff spot.  But they lost both of those games over the last two weeks, one to a third string quarterback in Pittsburgh and then got their doors blown off last week by the Vikings.  As a matter of fact, if you look at the Raiders wins they’ve come against one team with more than two wins and that was the Jets, when Geno Smith was starting.  Yes, the Lions also only have 2 wins but their coming off their first win in Lambeau since 1991.  Maybe that was their superbowl but you know Detroit will be up for the game and they have the talent to beat anyone.  I like the Lion by a field goal!

7) LOCK OF THE WEEK: Dallas Cowboys (pk) at Miami Dolphins 

I mean if you didn’t see this one coming then you haven’t been paying attention.  Tony Romo finally returns for the Cowboys after they lost all 7 games in which he didn’t play in.  The Cowboys know that if they have any shot in the NFC East, it’s going to have to start this week against Miami.  The good news for them is that if they win, they’ll be just two out in the division.  The Cowboys are not losing this game, the Dolphins have been inconsistent all year and Ryan Tannehill has digressed to a scary degree (30th in QBR).  It’s been a long time coming, Cowboys fans…the suffering ends this Sunday.

That’s going to do it for me here but I’ll be back with my Sunday night pick against the spread as well as my Monday night pick.  Good luck and let’s make some money.

The Spotlight On The Survivor Series- Pt. 5-2011

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I’m going to jump ahead a bit here on the survivor series retrospective and look back at Survivor Series 2011, a show I attended live at Madison Square Garden.  2011 was one of the more interesting times to be a WWE fan.  CM Punk was going through a period of time in which he was the most popular man on the roster following the summer of punk, Daniel Bryan had become world champion for the first time, the Rock had returned to the company and Zack Ryder had an absolute breakout year.  This was also the year that I attended the Royal Rumble, Wrestlemania and the Survivor Series so it was a pretty big year for me as a fan, you could say.

The 2011 Survivor Series was held live from Madison Square Garden and my buddy from work and I were planning on attending the event since the day tickets went on sale which was a first for me as I’m naturally a last minute planner.  I remember on the Friday leading up the Survivor Series there was a huge WWE party in the city, I believe it was in Penn Station.  CM Punk was there for a meet and greet and there was contest running that you could go to the event and win a private bus tour around New York City with Zack Ryder and Jimmy Hart.  My buddy and I were huge Ryder fans as we watched every Z True Long Island Story the day it came out while at work.  Being that our job only had so many employees, however, it was difficult for us both to get the day off together so we agreed to skip the party, though we did spend the day wishing we were there and scouring twitter for updates and photos from the event.

On survivor series Sunday, I remember my girlfriend at the time, begged me not to go.  There was a big time NY Giants game that night and she made up her mind that despite me dropping about $100 on tickets to the event with my friend, she didn’t want me to go to the show.  Though it was a hard decision,  I went to the show and we ended up breaking up two weeks later.

As for the show itself, this was also, to the best of my knowledge the last pay per view to be held at the Garden, to this date and it was a really big deal for us.  There’s something about going a show at MSG that is like none other.  I remember my buddy and I getting there at Penn Station early enough to grab a bite at Roy Rogers and then went down to wait online with the thousands of fans in attendance.  From the second we got there this crowd was all about Zack Ryder.  There were “We Want Ryder” chants in the lobby as many were frustrated that Ryder was not given a US title match against Dolph Ziggler on this show despite both men petitioning for the match on youtube and twitter, and instead John Morrison was given the match on his last night with the company.

In many ways it’s odd the crowd was so into Ryder as this was also the Rock’s first time back in New York and first match back since his return to the company in early 2011.  That said, When Ryder finally did make an appearance to run off Ziggler, this wasn’t only the biggest pop of the nght but the biggest pop I’ve heard in MSG with the exception of John Cena’s Royal Rumble 2008 return.  In fact, after the show when the Rock was making his speech to the live crowd, the Ryder Revolution, was still out in full force as the crowd chanted over the Rock’s speech until the Rock himself had to say “ Hell Yeah love Zack Ryder Woo Woo Woo and all that stuff!” It was probably the pinnacle of Zack Ryder’s career in many ways and it’s a shame he never really took off to the extent, at least that the New York crowd wanted him to on this night.

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Me and my buddy following the Survivor Series 

Follow the show, I remember my buddy and I racing out of the arena, past the idiot fans who were almost arrested for having a hardcore match taking unprotected chair shots to the head with the chair they got from the floor seats of the show, and down the street to a small theater.  We had tickets to a Mick Foley comedy show that were on sale for only $5 the week before.  This was still during the period of time where Mick just wanted to show people what he can do as he was still pretty early into his comedy run.

Mick was really good that night, he’s gotten better since, but with a bunch of diehard WWE fans in attendance following the Surivor Series, he was on fire. I remember there was a small VIP area that had a few Superstars there to watch like Dolph Ziggler and John Morrison.  Unfortunately, in New York City when you’re taking the long island railroad at least on the Port Washington line the trains leaving Penn station run on a schedule of 11:15, 12:15, 1:15 and then 3:15.  Thus, with work the next day, my friend and I agreed that we had to catch the 1:15 train.  What we didn’t think was that Mick would still be on the stage come 1AM.  This led to an embarrassing moment where my buddy and I had to run out of a small theater in an attempt not to be noticed only to have Mick say “Ladies and Gentleman, I’m so bad people are actually running out of the theater. “

When I was getting ready for bed that night, I checked the twitter feeds of some friends I knew were in attendance at the Foley show and at 2:30AM one of my friends tweeted that he was on line waiting to meet Mick.  Two thoughts crossed my mind, 1) Damn I missed a free Mick Foley meet and greet and 2) We probably wouldn’t have gotten out of there in time to catch the 3:14AM train!

All in all though another really fun experience that actually is probably most remembered not only for Ryder’s huge night but also for the first night of CM Punk’s 400+ day title reign.  I’ll end by saying that by reminiscing about this show, above all else, it makes me hope WWE runs the Garden for a pay per view again someday because there really is nothing like it. New York City is a great WWE crowd.

The Spotlight on the Survivor Series Pt. 4- 2002

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2002 has to be the most under rated year for WWE, you had the debuts of John Cena, Randy Orton and Brock Lesnar, you had the in ring returns of Hulk Hogan and Shawn Michaels and you had one of the most impressive mid cards ever to take place in the WWE. 2002 was also a year in which I attended my first live WWE pay per view when a buddy and myself went to the SummerSlam 2002 at the Nassau Colliseum (which you can read my recap of in the August archives) I’d say it was the year that I also got really into live pay per views because to me there was nothing like a live pay per view. It was just such a great atmosphere. Thus, when I turned 16 that October I was pleasantly surprised when my parents got me two tickets to the 2002 Survivor Series! This would be my first pay per view ever to come live from Madison Square Garden and to say I was excited was the ultimate understatement. The only question left was who I would take with me to the show. I was heavily involved in my own basement wrestling federation (sad I know) at the time and I already had a blast at SummerSlam with my buddy jimmy but I was suddenly now torn over a few buddies who wanted to come with. After much deliberation, I asked my father to come with me. My father’s interest in wrestling had started to wane but he had taken me to my very first wrestling show at Madison Square Garden so I thought he’d be the perfect person to attend my first pay per view at the garden with.

What was also cool about that birthday was that I had also got an autograph ticket from my family to meet Shawn Michaels in Howard Beach at Video Game Central the night before the Survivor Series. This time my mom was coming with as Shawn was always her favorite wrestler. This was Shawn’s first title match since his return to WWE at summerslam of that year and, to me anyway, he was the focal point of that event. It was crazy to have Shawn at this autograph signing only 30 minutes from my house and was one of the truly starstruck moments of my life. I remember it was pouring rain and blistering cold out in the November New York weather. Despite this and despite my mother just getting out of surgery, my mother stayed on that line with me and my buddy for three hours to meet Shawn.  Ever the professional, I distinctly remember Shawn telling me after I wished him luck, “Thanks bud, many think I’m nuts to compete in such a big match and honestly I don’t know how many more of these I have in me.”  He went on to wrestle for another 7+ years.

As for the event itself, I remember that this was the first show I had attended at the Garden since 9/11 the year before and the security was insane.  I had to remove my hat, people were being asked randomly to remove their shoes and my dad was asked to remove his cell phone and flip it open (remember flip phones?) for some reason.  It took forever to file into the Garden that night, but once we finally did get in, it was sure worth it. The guys at Busted Open Radio (which airs 2-4pm Monday, Tuesday and Friday on Sirius/XM 92) actually did a live tweeting of this show last year and it reminded me of what a great show this was, despite the fact that there weren’t any traditional survivor series matches on the show.

From the beginning, the crowd was in an absolute frenzy as Jeff Hardy did one of his famous swanton bombs off the rafters through a table and then later in the same match the Dudleys reunited to great fanfare.

One of the other big things about this show was the debut of Big Poppa Pump Scott Steiner who debuted for the company that night following the expiring of his contract from WCW (18 months after WCW closed it’s doors I might add).  I know that Scott’s WWE career as Big Poppa Pump didn’t really go anywhere but go back and watch this debut, he was over huge.  Surrounding that debut was also a lot of fun I remember going nuts because I was a huge Matt Hardy fan (always one of my favorites to this day) and I also loved the RNN News skits which featured Randy Orton promoting his return, he was so good even at 22 years old.

From here ya can’t talk about this show without talking about the Smackdown Six.  This was the peak of the smackdown six,to me, which featured Kurt Angle, Rey Mysterio, Edge, Chris Benoit, Eddie Guerrero and Chavo Guerrero.  This, in my opinion was the peak of the WWE midcard in any era and it breaks my heart to think two of the six have tragically passed and 5 of the 6 have mostly retired at this point.

If there was one man in WWE in 2002 that defined the year, it’d perhaps be the same man who’s synonymous with WWE in 2015…Brock Lesnar.  I remember the Garden crowd being so into Brock and at the time he was the WWE champion and still undefeated.  This obviously was the night in which he lost due to Paul Heyman turning on Brock.  That turn stunned the crowd and I remember after Brock hit the F5 people started celebrating thinking it was over only to have Paul yank the referee. To this day, it still amazes me whenever Brock lifts the Big Show with such ease.

In the end, I remember being really excited for the Elimination Chamber as it was the first Chamber match in history on this show and look at the six men in the match.  A who’s who of hall of fame level talent in Triple H, Shawn Michaels, Chris Jericho, Kane, Booker T and RVD.  This was the match in which RVD landed a five star frog splash and crushed Triple H’s larynx.  I also remember, other than Shawn, Booker T may have been the most over man in the match.  My father and I had a great time doing the “5 Time!” routine in the crowd with our entire section.  In the end, Shawn Michaels (proving to me he was in fact playing me the night before, which I couldn’t be happier about) won what would end up being his final world title in WWE.  As the confetti rained down on Shawn it was probably the best live moment for me as a fan until I was live for Wrestlemania 30.

All in all just a great and enjoyable show from top to bottom that more than holds up today as so much happened on that show it’s unbelievable to even think.  The show for me is memorable as it was the last show I attended live with my dad who’s interest in the product had really fell off then so it was the end of a 16 year era but what a finale we had.  That’s gonna do it for my journey through Survivor Series 2002, next up we’ll time travel nine years in looking back at survivor series 2011.